


No Cat Left Behind

by endrega_Turtlesse



Series: Amnesiac Bucky Barnes 'Verse [5]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesiac Bucky Barnes, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Crack Treated Seriously, Cute, Cute Bucky Barnes, Fluff, Gen, I created an angstless fic, I succeeded, M/M, No Angst, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Pre-World War II Bucky Barnes, SO MUCH FLUFF, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, don't actually, go me, sue me, what's new about that, yes the cat is more important than Tony in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22623157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endrega_Turtlesse/pseuds/endrega_Turtlesse
Summary: “No.”“Please?”“No.“…”“Stop it. We’ve agreed your puppy dog eyes are against the Geneva convention.”“Tony, please. He reminds me of home.” Bucky didn’t even blink. It was so unfair.“Fuck it” Tony muttered and massaged his temple. No way was he letting that thing stay. No, no, no. Just, no.“Fine. But you owe me all the blowjobs.”
Relationships: Alpine the Cat & James "Bucky" Barnes, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: Amnesiac Bucky Barnes 'Verse [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617277
Comments: 14
Kudos: 184
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	No Cat Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was born because I wanted to read a fluffy winteriron fic with Alpine at the focus, and I couldn't find any. Then I realised that, wait, that's basically this series, so this baby was born.  
> It's placed about two years after The Morning (Evening?) After, so it's established relationship. This wasn't the next piece I wanted to write, but, above mentioned plot bunny, so, enjoy? Hopefully.
> 
> If you wanna read this without the other pieces in the series, Bucky's been hit very hard (sorry, cognitively recalibrated) by Natasha, so he doesn't remember being the Winter Soldier. Then, he proceeds to hit on Tony because duh.
> 
> This hasn't been proof-read much because I have no self-control and also it's 1:30am, but if you find any mistakes please let me know and I'll fix them. <3
> 
> Name of Piece: No Cat Left Behind  
> Name of Participant: endrega23  
> Card Number: 3097  
> Square Number and Prompt: C2, Natasha Romanov / Black Widow  
> Rating: Teen and Up Audiences  
> Pairing: Tony Stark / James "Bucky" Barnes, James "Bucky" Barnes & Alpine  
> Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Summary: “No.”  
> “Please?”  
> “No.  
> “…”  
> “Stop it. We’ve agreed your puppy dog eyes are against the Geneva convention.”  
> “Tony, please. He reminds me of home.” Bucky didn’t even blink. It was so unfair.  
> “Fuck it” Tony muttered and massaged his temple. No way was he letting that thing stay. No, no, no. Just, no.  
> “Fine. But you owe me all the blowjobs.”

“No.”  
“Please?”  
“No.  
“…”  
“Stop it. We’ve agreed your puppy dog eyes are against the Geneva convention.”  
“Tony, please. He reminds me of home.” Bucky didn’t even blink. It was so unfair.  
“Fuck it” Tony muttered and massaged his temple. No way was he letting that thing stay. No, no, no. Just, no.  
“Fine. But you owe me all the blowjobs.”

\--------

EARLIER

Bucky wasn’t having a very good day. Not in the sense of ‘Winter Soldier’ bad day, ‘cause, you know. But average centenarian 30-year-olds are allowed to have bad days, too.  
The day started with waking up alone in bed, because Tony was in Japan on a business trip. Bad enough already, but then they’d “run out” of coffee, because Clint stole it. How the hell that man hadn’t died already of a heart attack, Bucky will never understand, but this time Clint had come very close to dying of other coffee-related reasons, and no, Bucky wasn’t aggressive, Steve. Fuck, of course that little fucker knew exactly what he’d done, so he hid away somewhere Bucky hadn’t found yet. But, oh, he will. One day.  
He’d still gone on his run, because if he hadn’t figured out how to stop Steve when he was 90 pounds soaking wet, he sure never will now. Only, Bucky’d been coffee-deprived and so half-asleep, so he stepped wrong and twisted his ankle. Not that it didn’t heal within an hour, but still!  
Then came the call to assemble, and now here they were, battling stupid doombots.  
He twisted mid-air, shooting off the heads of two bots in quick succession. His body knew what it had to do, even if his mind didn’t remember, and while it was still disconcerting sometimes, at times like this, he was thankful for it. For example, when he had a back to watch.  
Steve was off to his right, his shield bouncing around the stupid bots, severing their heads neatly. Bucky took a moment to admire his precision. Damn, he was even better than in the forties.  
“Ow!” He whipped his head around to glare at Natasha, who was standing over the body of a bot, its gun aiming towards Bucky. Oops.  
“Focus, James.”  
Yeah, okay. That might not be a bad idea. Still, “You don’t have to hit me, woman” he grumbled.  
“Yes, I can leave you to die” Natasha stared at him, unblinking. Damn, she was scary. He swallowed.  
She nodded, satisfied, and turned and leapt at a doombot standing nearby. Bucky threw himself back into the fight, too. Soon enough, they were clearing off the last of the doom-bots, and then, quiet. Off in the distance, Bucky could hear sirens, but up close, it was just his team breathing heavy in his comms, and a couple of destroyed bots sizzling and clanking around him.  
“Alright, team, good job” Steve’s voice came through the comms. “I want Widow and Falcon on press duty, Hawkeye and Soldier, look around for any functional bots still out there. I’ll coordinate the clean-up and check up on Bruce.”  
“Aww, Steve, do I have to?” Sam groaned. “I was on press duty last time, too.”  
“Codenames.”  
“Come, on, Steve!”  
Bucky filtered them out and looked around. The street he was standing on was clean, no surviving bots left, but the area was big.  
“Clint” he opened a private link. “What’s your position?”  
“Hiya, Buck. How’s it going?”  
“Clint.”  
“Right, right, no pleasantries on the field. You guys are all boring. At least you don’t insist on the codenames only shit.”  
“Clint, you stole all my coffee. What’s. Your. Position.”  
“Ahhh” Clint hummed. “So that’s why you’re grumpy. Okay, I’m on the corner of 15th and 55th. You’re on 14th, right?”  
“Yeah. You move towards 16th, I go towards 13th?”  
“Yeah, then we meet in the middle. Hawkeye out!”  
Bucky shook his head and snorted. That man was more ridiculous than himself and Tony combined, and that said something.  
Bucky cleared the first couple of streets to the south quickly, then doubled back to go north. There was really no one moving around. The civilians had been evacuated before the fight even began. If there was one thing you could trust Doom on, it was monologuing. The only thing on the streets were the destroyed bots, and they were nothing more than smoking piles. The Hulk really had fun with this one. A couple of the buildings were damaged, and Bucky called those in to have them checked for structural integrity before anyone went back in, but he doubted any would be seriously compromised.  
He’d given out some of his frustration, at least. He’d be talking with Tony in the evening, and he didn’t want to sound upset. Not that he wanted to hide anything, but he knew Tony would beat himself up, blaming himself for not being there. He had a soft heart and a guilt complex; not the best combination. And if Bucky was honestly feeling better, he wouldn’t have to lie. Win-win.  
He was on 55th when he heard it. Almost didn’t, it was so faint.  
Whimpering?  
Bucky looked around, searching for the source. This part of the street was pretty clear, not a lot of doombots made it past Clint, so it shouldn’t be so hard to spot…  
Bucky no moved silently, with a single-minded focus on the sound. Was it that way…? Yes, it grew slightly stronger… Where could it…  
Ohh. Ooooh. Bucky felt his mouth drop open, stretch into a smile.  
“Kitty” he whispered.  
There, in an alley, behind a black iron fence, sat the most gorgeous kitten Bucky had ever seen. Its fur was muddy, splotches of brown and the occasional black, but where it peeked out, it was a beautiful white.  
“Kitten” Bucky whispered again, crouching down at the mouth of the alley. “Come here, little thing. Are you lost?”  
The kitten blinked at him, and, oh, weren’t its eyes just the most amazing blue. “Meow” the kitten said.  
“I know” Bucky chuckled, and moved a tiny bit closer. “I won’t hurt you. Come on, don’t be afraid.”  
He extended his hand, just in front of the fence. He wished he had some kind of threat with him, but he doubted cats like ammunition. Still, he needn’t have worried, because the kitten cautiously – oh, ever so cautiously – leaned through the fence and sniffed Bucky’s hand.  
Bucky waited with bated breath, keeping completely still. The kitten gave a few other sniffs, sneezed, and climbed onto Bucky’s hand. Bucky felt his heart swell with love as the kitten curled up on his palm, yawned, and fell asleep.  
Bucky would do anything to keep this precious little thing alive. There and then, he knew he’d commit murder if it meant the kitten stayed safe.  
He cradled the kitten to his chest, his other hand feeling around for a collar. Huh, a boy, then. There was no collar, though; the kitten was his to keep.  
“Hey, Alpine” he murmured.  
He made it back to control in a daze, not really registering anything around him except for the tiny bundle of kitten sleeping on his chest. He only looked up when he got there, looking around for Steve and making his way there.  
“Hey, Steve” he called out. “I need to go home early.”  
Steve’s head whipped around. “What happened? Buck, are you okay? Did your ankle get…”  
Steve stopped dead when he saw him. “Oh, no, Buck. No way. You can’t keep adopting strays.”  
Bucky pouted, offended. “Come on, Stevie. When’s the last time I’ve adopted a stray?”  
“When you adopted Tony” Steve said, voice dry. “And don’t even tell me you haven’t adopted Clint. You keep motherhenning him all the time.”  
“Because he’d die on his own!”  
“Yes, so you’ve adopted him.”  
“I did not!”  
Steve raised an eyebrow. Bucky pouted. Steve kept his eyebrow raised. Bucky threw a hand up, careful not to jostle Alpine.  
“Fine, so I’ve ‘adopted’ him. So what? Someone has to keep you lot alive. God knows you don’t do it yourselves.”  
The corner of Steve’s mouth turned up. “But you can’t keep adopting strays.”  
“Yes, I can.”  
“No, you can’t.”  
“Watch me.”  
“Buck” Steve sighed, exasperated. “Have you thought about what Tony will say to a cat?”  
Bucky blinked down at Alpine. He… did not. “Yes?”  
“Buck.”  
“But Stevie” Bucky whined. “Look at him!”  
Steve shook his head, but Bucky wasn’t fooled. He saw Steve momentarily melting when he looked at Alpine.  
“Come on, Buck. At least don’t get attached yet.”  
Bucky couldn’t quite keep his wince inside. Heh, attached. What was that. Never heard of it.  
“Tell me you didn’t name it.”  
“Him.”  
“What?”  
“It’s a him.”  
“Buck.”  
“…”  
“Buck.”  
“Okay, so he’s called Alpine...”  
“Buck!”

\--------

The videocall with Tony was… awkward. For one, Bucky was an awful liar, despite every-thing that said he shouldn’t be. And second, it was awfully hard to keep Alpine quiet. Basi-cally, he required constant belly rubs, which, don’t get him wrong, Bucky was glad to pro-vide! Just, it was hard to keep him out of sight of the camera? Not that Bucky was hiding him! He was, just, being strategic. Finding a better situation to introduce Tony to Alpine, when Tony could be swayed by Alpine’s cuteness in person. Yes, that is what Bucky was doing.  
“Bucky.”  
“Yes, Tony?”  
“Either tell me that you’re masturbating and those are the sounds of your new sex toy, in which case, I’m totally on board! No need to hide it, sweetums! I’m all for good phone sex. Or, you know, video sex. Poteyto, potahto. Really, you know, we should try that sometime. Not the potato, I’m sure you’ve tried that already, too. Haven’t you said you ate that a lot growing up? Anyway, where was I? Ooh, phone sex, yes.”  
“Tony” Bucky interrupted, trying very hard not to smile. “How much have you slept?”  
“Lies! Slander! Sleep is for the weak!” Tony pointed at the camera. “I am above such trivi-al needs!”  
“Tony” Bucky said, losing the fight with his smile.” Tony, sweetheart, go to bed.”  
Tony squinted. “What are you trying to distract me from?” he whispered.  
“Tony…” Bucky squirmed. Too bad this time he was actually trying to distract Tony from something.  
Of course, Alpine choose this moment to loudly sneeze, and then – when Bucky stopped scratching his tummy, staring instead in shock at the screen where Tony straightened up very quickly and was staring intently at the screen – meow loudly.  
“Bucky…” Tony said slowly. “Do you, by any chance, have a cat on our bed?”  
Bucky blinked. “No?”  
“That is very unconvincing, especially since there’s a cat in your lap.”  
Oh. Bucky looked down. He hadn’t noticed Alpine climbing into his lap, but there he was, staring up at him with the biggest blue eyes ever.  
“Stare at Tony, sweetheart” Bucky whispered. “Show Tony how cute you are.”  
Alpine blinked at him. Dammit.  
“Bucky, you know I can hear you, right?”  
Bucky looked up, guilty.  
“And by the way, I refuse to share ‘sweetheart’ with anyone, let alone a cat” Tony sniffed. “But it doesn’t matter, since we’re not keeping it.”  
“Him.”  
“What?”  
“It’s a him.”  
“Bucky, no. Anyway, someone must be missing him” Tony waved around. “So you must take him back to them like the good Samaritan you are.”  
“He doesn’t have a collar.”  
“Doesn’t mean he never had one.”  
“He’s a few weeks old, if he doesn’t have one, he never had one.”  
“Doesn’t matter, because we’re not keeping him.”  
“He’s called Alpine.”  
“No.”  
“Why, do you have a better name?”  
“Yes, of course I have a better name! That is a stupid na-” Tony cut himself off and glared at Bucky. “Are you trying to trick me?”  
“Is it working?”  
“No!”  
“But look at him!” Bucky turned Alpine towards the camera, just as he yawned. “Look at his tiny, perfect little face! And I’ve washed him off before I let him on the bed!”  
“That’s the minimum!”  
“So we’re keeping him?”  
“No!”  
“Please?”  
“No!”  
“…”  
“Stop it. We’ve agreed your puppy dog eyes are against the Geneva convention.” Tony was too cute when he was tired, it was unfair.  
“Tony, please. He reminds me of home.” Bucky wasn’t above playing dirty, though.  
“Fuck it” Tony muttered and massaged his temple, and Bucky knew he won.  
“Fine. But you owe me all the blowjobs.”

\--------

Blowjobs were a lot harder while keeping a kitten out. Worth it, though.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are my lifeline!  
> I adore kudos too, though, if you have nothing to say. I've been there, hon, I know.


End file.
